Background Children who witness parental intimate partner violence (IPV) are more likely to develop mental health issues compared to those who do not witness such violence. Objective The main ...objective of this study is to assess the association between parental intimate partner violence and child mental health outcomes. Methodology This cross-sectional study involved 548 participants divided into two groups: parents (N = 304) and offspring (N = 244). The participants were recruited from Mageragere Sector in the City of Kigali (urban), as well as Mbazi and Ruhashya sectors in Huye District (rural). To assess the difference about mental difficulties reported by the offspring, a Mann-Whitney U test was employed to compare the responses of parents and their children on mental health outcomes. Additionally, multiple linear regression analysis was conducted to explore the association between parental intimate partner violence (IPV) and the mental health outcomes of their offspring. Results The results highlighted significant levels of mental and emotional challenges in children, as reported by both parents and the children themselves. Depression and youth conduct problems were more prevalent among the children compared to their parents, whereas anxiety and irritability were more commonly reported by parents than by their children. Intimate partner violence showed to be a predictor of irritability and anxiety symptoms in offspring. In terms of irritability, depression, and youth conduct problems they were identified as predictors of anxiety symptoms. Particularly, anxiety and irritability were revealed to predict youth conduct problems. Conclusion The study indicates that parental intimate partner violence (IPV) has an impact on the mental well-being of their offspring. Furthermore, it was observed that there is not only a correlation between IPV and poor mental health outcomes, but also a connection between different mental conditions, implying that children exposed to IPV are more prone to experiencing a range of mental issues. As a result, intervention programs should place emphasis on addressing the mental disorders of both parents and children. Keywords: Intimate partner violence, Mental health outcomes, Offspring, Rwanda
Abstract
The use of technology, including smartphones, cameras, Internet-connected devices, computers and platforms such as Facebook, is now an essential part of everyday life. Such technology is ...used to maintain social networks and carry out daily tasks. However, this technology can also be employed to facilitate domestic and family violence. Drawing on interviews undertaken with 55 domestic and family violence survivors in Brisbane, Australia, this article outlines survivors’ experiences of technology-facilitated domestic and family violence. The frequency and nature of abusive behaviours described by the women suggest this is a key form of abuse deserving more significant attention.
Counselling Survivors of Domestic Abuse explains how counsellors can facilitate recovery from domestic abuse within a secure, supportive therapeutic relationship. There has been growing awareness in ...recent years of the impact and consequences of domestic abuse, especially the relationship between domestic abuse and mental health. To appreciate the nature of trauma caused by domestic abuse, professionals need to understand its complex nature and the psychobiological impact of repeated exposure to control and terror. This book examines the therapeutic techniques and specific challenges, such as secondary traumatic stress, faced by professionals when working with survivors of domestic abuse. The author stresses the importance of identifying domestic abuse so that it can be addressed in the therapeutic process to aid recovery, and explores issues such as safety and protection, the long-term effects of abuse and the importance of grieving to the restoration of hope. This book is essential reading for counsellors, therapists, social workers, mental health professionals, health care professionals including GPs and midwives, managers of refuges, legal professionals and all those working with survivors of domestic abuse.
To date, little has been published about the place of spirituality in working with survivors of intimate partner violence. Overcoming Conflicting Loyalties examines the intersection of faith and ...culture in the lives of religious and ethno-cultural women in the context of the work of FaithLink, a unique community initiative that encourages religious leaders and secular service providers to work together. The authors present the benefits of such cooperation by reporting the findings of three qualitative research studies. Individuals in secular and sacral services who work with victims of domestic violence, as well as academics in the fields of social work, psychology, and religious studies, will benefit from the insights, depth of experience, and range of voices represented in this valuable book.Irene Sevcik, Michael Rothery, Nancy Nason-Clark, and The Very Rev. Robert Pynn have brought their professional expertise and experiences to benefit FaithLink at different times and in different capacities. All of the authors live in Calgary except Nason- Clark, who lives in Fredericton.Sponsored by The Calgary Foundation.
Just under 2.5 million people die annually due to alcohol use. This global estimate, however, excludes most of the health burden borne by others than the alcohol user. Alcohol's harm to others ...includes a multitude of conditions, such as trauma from traffic crashes, fetal disorders due to prenatal exposure to alcohol, as well as interpersonal and intimate partner violence. While alcohol's causal role in these conditions is well-established, alcohol's harm to others' contribution to the overall health burden of alcohol remains unknown. This knowledge gap leads to a situation in which alcohol policy and prevention strategies largely focus on the reduction of alcohol's detrimental health harms on the alcohol users, neglecting affected others and population groups most vulnerable to these harms, including women and children. In this article, we seek to elucidate why estimates for alcohol's harm to others are lacking and offer guidance for future research. We also argue that a full assessment of the alcohol health burden that includes the harm caused by others' alcohol use would enhance the visibility and public awareness of such harms, and advancing the evaluation of policy interventions to mitigate them.
Decriminalizing Domestic Violenceasks the crucial, yet often overlooked, question of why and how the criminal legal system became the primary response to intimate partner violence in the United ...States. It introduces readers, both new and well versed in the subject, to the ways in which the criminal legal system harms rather than helps those who are subjected to abuse and violence in their homes and communities, and shares how it drives, rather than deters, intimate partner violence. The book examines how social, legal, and financial resources are diverted into a criminal legal apparatus that is often unable to deliver justice or safety to victims or to prevent intimate partner violence in the first place. Envisioned for both courses and research topics in domestic violence, family violence, gender and law, and sociology of law, the book challenges readers to understand intimate partner violence not solely, or even primarily, as a criminal law concern but as an economic, public health, community, and human rights problem. It also argues that only by viewing intimate partner violence through these lenses can we develop a balanced policy agenda for addressing it. At a moment when we are examining our national addiction to punishment,Decriminalizing Domestic Violenceoffers a thoughtful, pragmatic roadmap to real reform.
Abstract
Purpose
There are inadequate resources available to support lesbian, gay, bi + , trans and gender diverse, intersex and queer (LGBTIQ) people experiencing family violence in Australia. ...Government funding agencies and mainstream family violence service providers regularly state that there is insufficient evidence to justify investment in more inclusive services. This article explores practitioner perceptions of such claims.
Method
21 practitioners from mainstream and specialist LGBTIQ family violence services were interviewed about structural challenges associated with implementing LGBTIQ-inclusive family violence services. Participants’ accounts highlight the political tensions and material repercussions of epistemic definitions of ‘evidence’ as they pertain to LGBTIQ individuals’ experiences of violence within policy environments. Utilizing Carol Bacchi’s feminist policy analysis framework, we ask ‘what is the problem represented to be?’, examining participant perceptions about how evidence is currently positioned in policy and resourcing decisions pertaining to LGBTIQ family violence, and discuss its implications.
Results
Participants overwhelmingly called for more investment in research and data gathering about family violence against LGBTIQ people and provision of effective supports. Even allowing for this, participants indicated that there is also already enough existing knowledge to justify urgent expansion of LGBTIQ-inclusive services.
Conclusions
Expanded provision of services and generating a more robust evidence base about LGBTIQ family violence service needs are critically important and intertwined issues. However, the way that they are currently sequenced in policy and broader sector conversations, where ‘enough’ evidence is required in order to justify increased services, is inhibiting progress on both.
Metodos Realizamos una encuesta online representativa con mujeres en pareja (18-65 anos) entre el 22 de abril y el 8 de mayo de 2020, cuando las participantes llevaban un mes confinadas. Determinamos ...la prevalencia de varias formas de violencia en el mes anterior utilizando tanto la elicitacion directa como un experimento de lista. Realizamos una regresion logistica multivariable para evaluar el impacto de los factores de riesgo asociados a la pandemia.
Sibling sexual abuse (SSA) is a pervasive form of intrafamilial sexual violence. A review of existing literature underscores ongoing challenges to comprehensive understanding of this offense due to ...definitional inconsistencies, small sample sizes, data constraints, methodological shortcomings including reporting practices, and a dearth of empirical scrutiny. Previous studies have relied on retrospective, non-representative, clinical, or homogeneous samples.
The present work updates knowledge on SSA addressing several persistent limitations in previous studies and offering contemporary victim, offender, and incident-based profiles to promote avenues for future risk assessment, prevention, and intervention strategies.
This study, both exploratory and descriptive, draws on the five most recent years (2018–2022) of data from the National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS), the largest available dataset (N = 30,640), containing SSA incidents reported to law enforcement.
Significant sex differences were noted across age, race, victim injury, offense type, and relationship. Female victims were more likely to experience abuse from older siblings and were nearly 2.5 times more likely to be victimized as an adult than their male counterparts. Female victims were also more likely to report injury, yet less likely than male victims to experience forcible penetration during an SSA incident.
Findings substantiate the ongoing need for continued refinement of SSA definitional criteria, which, in turn, will lead to greater identification and reporting of incidents. Moreover, findings here underscore the importance of considering age and gender dynamics to guide risk assessment, intervention, and prevention strategies.
Every country in the world has been affected by the epidemic of intimate partner violence. It is now known that technology facilitates intimate partner violence by enabling perpetrators new ways of ...abusing, controlling, harassing, and isolating their current or former partner. However, there has been a tendency to neglect consideration of the promise technology holds in combating intimate partner violence.
Understanding how technology is being misused to facilitate intimate partner violence is critical to its prevention. However, it is equally essential to acknowledge the opportunities technology creates in protecting and empowering victims. The purpose of this article is to explore these opportunities. Importantly, it steers away from victim-blaming, simplistic, and often unhelpful solutions that expect victims to refrain from using technology. Instead, this article views access to the internet as a human right and focuses on innovative uses of technology that can allow victims to maintain their virtual identity while maintaining their online safety.
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